They finish their smokes and walk on. He has a flash of vivid recollection. The last time he walked here. With his father and Tamsyn. He hears the echo of her crying. She’d fallen while running along the path and grazed her knee on a rock. She was fine until she realised it was bleeding. The sound of her crying was grating but their father didn’t shout or sound irritated. He stopped still and bent down. Told her the three of them were explorers discovering magical lands that were yet to be mapped. Her crying had ebbed and through the remnants of her tears she asked if there were tigers. He laughed. Said yes. Then scooped her onto his shoulders to keep her safe from the tigers’ teeth. As he did she squealed with delight.

Jago pushes the memory away and walks on. The path becomes steeper. The three of them, him following Edie and Tamsyn, walk solemnly, as if on a pilgrimage. Their footsteps beat a steady rhythm. He wonders where his friends are. Imagines they are down at the dock, kicking the walls, moaning about the mines and London wankers and the price of weed. Tamsyn’s right. He doesn’t walk the cliffs enough. A mistake. The air up here is good for the soul.

They come to a steep section in the path. Tamsyn rests her hand on a rock and lowers herself down. Then Edie looks around at him. He steps close to her. Holds his hand out for her to steady herself. When she is down safely she turns to say thank you and it skewers him. She smiles and lets go of his hand and he has to pause to catch his breath.

The mine shafts of Botallack rise out of the moorland. Ruined chimneys. Walls that now are only piles of stones. Arches standing like sculptures. The cliff path is rough here. Loose pebbles scatter the way. Scars of rock cut into expanses of earth and cushions of heather. They walk on towards the engine houses set low on the cliffs. The remains of the arsenic-refining works. He’s amazed at how much he remembers. His father was a good teacher.

The path narrows and heads downwards, drawing closer to the sea. The cliff falls away at colossal speed to their left and waves crash angrily at the foot of the vertical face.

Edie gasps. Her hand reaches instinctively for the rock to her right.

‘Don’t slip,’ Tamsyn calls back.

Tamsyn stops in front of what’s left of the engine house. She pulls herself up onto the wall.

Edie looks hesitant. ‘Is it safe?’

‘No,’ he says, then jumps onto the wall and follows his sister.